Interview de M.Garufi sur Borsa & Finanza

French biotech NicOx, which has an Italian operation in Milan, is looking for a partner and an acquisition, financial weekly Borsa & Finanza reported on Saturday.

"Now were are looking to develop a new alliance with a pharmaceutical company; afterwards we could buy a biotech group listed on the Nasdaq," the company's CEO, Michele Garufi told the paper.

"With these two moves we will be able to market Naproxcinod, our lead drug for arthritis, better in the United States," he added.

The newspaper said that NicOx's share price has risen from three euros in March 2006 to 14 euros today, having reached a peak of 22.2 euros last December.

The U.S. expansion strategy has been underpinned by the appointment of Sanjiv Sharma as vice-president of marketing, Borsa & Finanza suggests.

Sharma worked at Sanofi-Aventis for 15 years and is considered a "guru" of drugs marketing, the paper added.

His role will be to market Naproxcinod, which is in Phase III trials, in the U.S. The drug is expected to be filed with the FDA at the beginning of 2009.

The paper says analyst Sylvain Goyon has forecast the drug will generate sales from 2010 and enjoy annual revenues ultimately of between 700-1,200 million euros.

"But to be able to achieve these results we will have to find an alliance with a pharmaceutical group which has a solid sales network in America," the paper quotes Garufi as saying.

NicOx could ask for royalties of between 25-30% of revenues for Naproxcinod, Borsa & Finanza claimed. But if it is a medium-sized group then it may ask for 50%.

Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and Merck are the potential partners mentioned by the paper.

(Source: APM, 19 novembre 2007)

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